1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a picture processing apparatus for processing picture data received from a sensor such as a video camera and displaying the processed data on a display unit. More particularly, the invention relates to a picture processing apparatus so adapted that picture processing can be limited by a window pattern generated by a graphic display processing controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional picture processing apparatus, picture data from sensor of e.g. an industrial robot are stored in buffer memory such as a frame memory having a storage area corresponding to the display frame of the display unit, and discrimination of the position of an object contained in the picture data and recognition of the shape of the object are realized by executing predetermined picture processing with regard to all information in the frame memory.
With a conventional picture processing apparatus of this type, there are cases where the desired results can be obtained without performing processing with regard to all picture data in the frame memory. However, even if processing is executed by a dedicated picture processor for picture data stored in a frame memory, picture processing based on all information in the designated frame memory is unavoidable, thereby prolonging processing time. Accordingly, a system has been conceived in which window pattern information is outputted at the same time that the frame memory is designated by a main processor, a bit pattern designating an area necessary for feature recognition of a picture stored in the frame memory is formed in another frame memory in advance, and the area of picture processing is limited by the bit pattern. With this method, however, window data are generated and stored by the main processor, which therefore must be given a large memory capacity. In addition, processing time is prolonged, making it impossible to perform picture processing efficiently.